Ottawa’s Cody Sorensen is returning to the Winter Olympic Games, but you won’t find him wearing spikes and an aerodynamic suit while pushing a bobsleigh.

Oh, he plans to spend a lot of time at the Olympic Sliding Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but this time it will be a whole lot easier to handle the once every four years experience. Sorensen will be an eyes-wide-open spectator and his pulse will register at a healthy beat, when he’s not cheering.

In some respects, that’s a good approach for a young man who was badly bitten twice by outside forces in his attempt to produce a simple thing like an Olympic race result.

For the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Games, Sorensen and his crewmates did everything they could do to represent Canada, but they were denied an opportunity to race a crucial World Cup race while their U.S. rivals used it to seize the final four-man berth in the Olympics.

At the 2014 Sochi Games, the highly-ranked Justin Kripps sled, which included Sorensen pushing on the right side from his No. 3 position, placed eighth in the first run. However, in the second run on the first of two days of competition, the Canada 3 sled overturned on corner 12 with 400 metres remaining and crossed the finish line upside down.

In a sport decided by hundredths of a second, Canada 3 sunk to 30th and Sorensen had a concussion, so he wasn’t medically cleared for the final two runs one day later.

Late last year, Sorensen started thinking about attending the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. He thought it would be a great idea to watch the games within the Games, something he only did once in Sochi because of training and competition schedules. This time, there’s no qualifying, no training and no strict schedule.

Sorensen spoke to WelchGroup Consulting colleague Hye-min Lee about attending the Olympics. It was a natural fit as Lee was already going as a volunteer at Canada Olympic House in Pyeongchang. They will see some of the Games and sites of Korea.

“I’m still an athlete director for Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton and I’m going to support the team,” said Sorensen, who also is a member of the athletes’ advisory committee for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.

“I (was scheduled to) compete the last two days in Sochi. The bobsleigh schedule is not the best to experience the Games as a whole. A lot of athletes who finish in the first two days have two weeks to explore and take in the experience.”

While Sorensen plans to watch the final two runs of two-man bobsleigh competition and all four runs of the four-man event, he also has tickets for a round-robin hockey game, a Big Air freestyle skiing competition and a lot of curling. He’s also hoping to land some tickets, possibly long-track speed skating to see friend Ivanie Blondin of Gloucester, through a variety of athlete alumni groups.

“There’s obviously less stress (as a spectator),” said Sorensen, who earned four medals on the World Cup circuit and several top-10 results at world championships.

“As an athlete in the (Olympic) race, you don’t feel that it’s much different than a typical World Cup race. But, as a spectator, I hope to get lost in the hype and experience the things I missed out as an athlete.”

Another thing that eluded Sorensen as an athlete was an Olympic medal. After his first run in 2014, even though the Canada 3 sled was in eighth place, it was also a mere 0.35 seconds out of first. There were still three more heats to move up the list, but that would have required near perfect runs.

Ottawa’s Cody Sorensen, left, saw his first and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic experience end in a crash about 400 metres from the finish of his second run.Supplied photoOttSunWP

Sorensen, whose father Ole wrestled for Canada in the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, hopes his final run doesn’t override his accomplished career.

“It’s a tough thing. I’d rather crash than finish seventh. Our saying in bobsleigh was, ‘Cash or Crash,’” said Sorensen, whose team was tied for third in World Cup points and ranked fourth entering the 2014 Olympics.

“We were good over our first two runs. Our (start) push times were tied for the fastest at the Olympics. The start of the second run felt great. But we ran too far. We felt like we were flying. There were no (wall) taps and the run felt smooth. The crash came out of nowhere.”

The sled flipped at a speed faster than you’d travel on an Ontario highway.

Former Ottawa bobsledder Cody Sorensen is returning to the Winter Olympic Games, but this time he’ll be a spectator.Stefanie Reid photoOttSunWP

“Pure adrenalin,” Sorensen said, describing the dark experience of riding upside down in a sled. “You’re going 140 kilometres an hour and there’s a high potential for injury and pain. You go upside down and it’s fight or flight. You have no idea if you’re going to roll or be knocked sideways.”

Sorensen held the handles on the side of the sled tight, while still experiencing significant G forces. His forearms racked with pain.

“Despite finishing last at the Olympics, we’re proud of our accomplishments that year,” he said. “Often sports are measured by places, but, for us, it was how we prepared to get to (the Olympics).”

Will being a spectator smooth over his overall Olympic experience?

“I don’t know yet. I’ll answer that when I get back,” he said.

CAPITAL SPORTS HUB

• When Canada’s Summer Olympians returned from Rio de Janeiro in 2016, CanFund, a not-for-profit group that financially supports the elite athletes, gave them welcome home gifts of an eight-inch-by-eight-inch, acrylic Maple Leaf Home Painting. Former Ottawa sprinter Jane Roos, the founder of CanFund as well as an artist and gallery owner, took a suggestion from a staff member and put a new twist on her gift by presenting one to each eligible athlete who qualified for Canadian team for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Individuals bought more than 200 paintings and provided inspirational notes for the athletes who will be wearing the maple leaf. There are about 80 paintings remaining at $250 each. More than $50,000 has been raised for national-team athletes and will be distributed through CanFund grants of $6,000 each.

• Kim Thompson, a member of the original University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s hockey team (1999-2002) and a professor at the school, is part of the Canadian women’s hockey team staff at Pyeongchang. She will serve as the team’s mental training consultant … Ottawa’s Kristina Groves, a four-time Winter Olympic medallist in long-track speed skating, and former Ottawa Senators forward Alexei Yashin will serve as TV analysts for CBC during its Olympic coverage.

• Gabriela Dabrowski certainly knows how to make the right shots at the right time. After winning the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, the Gloucester tennis player dedicated the victory her long-time friend, Australian fan favourite and now-retired Jarmila Gajdosova Wolfe, the 2013 Aussie mixed doubles champion. “She’s one of my good friends and I miss her on tour. True friends are hard to come by out here,” Dabrowski wrote in an e-mail. Wolfe responded in kind to this columnist’s Twitter request: “She is one of my best friends and was my maid of honour. I love her dearly and I couldn’t be any more proud (for) her. It (dedication) truly meant (the) world to me especially since I won the same title. I miss playing on tour and miss her! I hope she wins many more slams.” Dabrowski, who shared more than $172,000 (Cdn) with Croatia’s Mate Pavic for their Grand Slam victory, reached the semifinals of last week’s St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy with Yifan Xu of China. Dabrowski is ranked a career-best 11th in women’s doubles.

• The Winterlude Triathlon was reduced to a duathlon Sunday, when a lack of snow in the Experimental Farm cancelled the cross-country skiing leg. That was good news for Ottawa’s Nancy Coke, who used the longer 12-kilometre skate (normally eight kilometres) and a five-kilometre run on the snow-covered Rideau Canal Skateway, to win the women’s race for the fourth time. “This may have worked a little to my advantage,” Coke wrote in an e-mail. “For some reason, I typically do fairly well on the skate. Ironically, of the three disciplines, it is the one I rarely practise.” The Winterlude race was the 18th for Coke, who also has recorded four seconds and two thirds. Jonathan Favre of Ottawa captured the men’s title.

• The Scotiabank Charity Challenge, the fund-raising component of the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend, recorded a record-breaking total of $846,844 for Ottawa charities. The top fund raiser was the Ottawa Hospital Foundation followed by Myositis Canada and the Royal Foundation for Mental Health (total for all three, $333,474). The leading charities with the largest number of runners (total for top four, 515) were Canada Cancer Society (first), CHEO Foundation (second) and OCISO-Run for a New Start and United Way (tied third). The top charity based on the largest average dollars raised per runner at $4,051 was Camp Misquah, followed by Lung Canada Canada and Parkinson Canada. Scotiabank provided prize money to the top three in each category: $4,250 for first, $2,500 for second and $1,500 for third.

• Dunrobin’s Samantha Cornett has moved into the top 25 on the Professional Squash Association women’s rankings, reaching No. 23 as of Feb. 1… Eight area coaches, whose athletes won national championship titles or were named to national teams in 2017, have been given recognition awards by Canoe Kayak Canada: Alina Carranco, Andres Carranco, Diana Deek, Cheyanne Farquharson, Wade Farquharson and Conrad Hutter, all Rideau Canoe Club; Joel Hazzan, Ottawa River Canoe Club; and Adam Mayo, Cascades Club.

Martin Cleary’s High Achievers column regularly on Wednesdays. If you know an athlete, coach, team or builder you consider a high achiever, contact Martin at martincleary51@gmail.com

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